


Miracle in Finals Week

by FB Wickersham (perpetfic)



Series: The Blue Stones [7]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Canon Lesbian Relationship, F/F, Female Protagonist, Lesbian Character, blue stones
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-12-24 01:40:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12002262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perpetfic/pseuds/FB%20Wickersham
Summary: It's finals week, and there are anxiety beetles all OVER the library. Hazel's on it with an assist from Gretel.





	Miracle in Finals Week

**Author's Note:**

> Love to HugeAlienPie for continued beta and the double check on the ever-growing list of shit I have to remember for this universe.

Hazel walked into the room on the Tuesday night of finals week and found Lauren facedown on her bed, a beer in one hand. "Done?"

Lauren turned her head so she wasn't speaking into the pillow. "Oh my fucking god. I had _three_ today." She stared at the beer in her hand, then held it out to Hazel. "I meant to open this ten minutes ago."

Hazel swallowed a laugh and took the can. She opened it, took the first sip, and passed it back. "Isn't your half of the room check tonight?"

"I convinced Sue to do it when I first got back so I could get it over with and drink a beer or seven." Lauren sat up on her bed and chugged half the beer. "She signed off on my side of the room and ran back to the library to study for her Latin final."

"Fuck," Hazel said, standing very still. "I forgot to check the stacks."

"For what? I thought you were studying."

"I was, but I also did a quick walk around for anxiety beetles. I only walked the perimeter. I forgot about the stacks."

"Do they get worse in the stacks?"

Hazel checked her faux-space for her wand and opened the bottom drawer of her dresser to pull out dried lavender and snake plant. "Yeah. People hide in the stacks to freak out, and there are just a lot of random books people only need at finals that are buried somewhere in there."

Lauren chugged the second half of her beer and put the empty on her desk. "Oh, that sucks." She grinned when Hazel handed her a second beer from the mini-fridge without question. "Thanks."

"You've earned it. Leave me two. I'll clear the empties before Sue does my room check on Thursday."

"Cool. Thanks." Lauren opened the new can and toasted Hazel as she walked towards the door. "Crush 'em."

Hazel gave a lazy salute. "Yes, Ma'am."

*

It was very quiet walking back across campus at a quarter to nine, even during finals week. Hazel kept her head down and her hands in her pockets. It wasn't quite freezing, but it was cold with a wind chill. 

"Hi," Gretel said, forming out of the mist coming off the fountain in front of the library. "I thought you were going back to your room."

"Forgot to check the stacks for beetles," Hazel said. She stopped walking and watched the way the lights from the library filtered through Gretel. "Wanna keep me company?"

Gretel smiled, soft and welcoming and sweet. "Of course."

Hazel walked back into the library, Gretel a flitter of movement by her side. The security guard nodded when Hazel flashed her student ID and didn't seem surprised to see her again so soon. During finals week, he probably saw a lot of comings and goings like hers.

"Can we start in history?" Gretel asked in a whisper, though no one but Hazel could hear her. Hazel desperately wanted to tell her how cute it was.

"Sure," Hazel replied in an undertone. She took the stairs to the third floor because Gretel hated elevators. The third floor, where the History section was stored, was also a quiet floor. No conversations, no pairs quizzing each other battle dates or the periodic table. Just books and exhausted-to-frantic people taking up every study carrel. 

"I'll start on the far side," Gretel said. She reached out and her fingertip went through Hazel's Blue Stone. "It'll blink twice if I find any infestations."

"Okay," Hazel said. It was their usual signal, but Gretel always reached out for her necklace. Hazel wanted to tell her how much she liked that little touch, one she could almost feel because it made her stone buzz lightly against her chest. 

Gretel floated away, head up like she was searching for a favorite book. Hazel watched her for an extra moment before going for the stacks on her side. She twisted her wrist to release her wand and murmured a quick location spell. Shimmering green light immediately began to waft from four different shelves.

"Oh god," a guy said as he came down the aisle after Hazel, a book in one hand, "Have I been up so long I'm hallucinating?"

Hazel weighed the truth against a lie. Could this guy--wearing a shirt that looked about three days wrinkled--mentally handle magic on top of finals? Anxiety beetles were mundane, but they were still magic. "Leftover props from someone's short film final," Hazel said. "They were doing a creepy library thing."

The guy heaved a huge sigh and rubbed his eyes. "Oh, thank god." He edged past Hazel and ran his fingers down a row of spines before grabbing another book. He gave Hazel a little smile as he walked back to his study carrel.

Hazel pulled the lavender and snake plant leaves from her satchel and sprinkled a few at every point of green light. The beetles fluttered, settled, and faded out of sight. They were still there, Hazel knew, just waiting to spawn at the next big test, but for now, they were back in their own liminal space and would stay as long as the leaves were on the shelves.

The next three aisles were about the same, beetle-coverage wise. Hazel dropped her leaves and kept an eye out for the shivery yellow light that meant beetles might be newly making their way to the library side of things. 

Her stone lit up twice, warming her collarbone. After a few seconds, it lit up twice again. Hazel pressed her fingers to it, and a note from Gretel came flowing out, the sentence settling comfortably at Hazel's eye line.

_U.S. History is absolutely taken over._

Hazel bit back a sigh, internally swearing at required 100-level courses, students writing deep-fact papers on information that never got taught, and the goddamn news, which had recently led to many angry conversations in the quad about what counted as an American hero. She tapped the Stone twice so Gretel would know her message was received. She did a fast sweep of the next three rows, each of them showing fewer beetles than the last, but she was in the more obscure sections by that point, so that was no surprise.

When she stepped out of the aisles and looked across the room, Gretel was standing at the beginning of the U.S. History section, her hair flowing upward from the force of the magic around her. Given how little magic anxiety beetles actually used, Hazel started through her mental checklist of large-size banish spells as she walked over. 

"Sleeve," Hazel said.

Gretel rested her hand on Hazel's sleeve. "Go ahead."

Hazel murmured and flicked her wand. A pinkish glow fell to cover them and the entire U.S. History section. It was a hiding spell. If anyone looked over, they wouldn't see any magic. If anyone walked over, they'd be momentarily distracted from walking down the aisles.

"There's a proper nest two rows over," Gretel said, leading the way. "But, really, they're just everywhere."

Hazel murmured the spell to light them up, and every single book on every single shelf glowed green. "Oh, good lord."

"And there's a massive dust moth problem in the encyclopedias."

"No doubt spawned from the sheer amount of beetles," Hazel said. Gretel hummed agreement. "I don't know how to take out this many at once. I'm not even sure layering the big banish spells I know would do the trick."

"Call an Auntie?" Gretel suggested.

Hazel considered it. There'd be no censure in asking for help, but this was her first infestation like this. She wanted to at least try to solve it herself first as a full-fledged Blue Stone. If her idea didn't work, it wouldn't cause more beetles, and the Aunties would happily assist. "Maybe," she said. "But there's got to be something I can do with what I know."

Gretel reached out and three beetles crawled up her arm. They gleamed blue-green, each one the size of a dime. She giggled. "I always liked bugs. Not all of them, but the shiny ones, like these, Mother used to have to clear them out of my room. I'd find them and put them in jars."

"Jars…" Hazel thought about the chaos demons from earlier in the semester, how she'd caught them all in the magic bag. She watched one of the beetles flit off Gretel's arm and settle back on a book. She thought about what it felt like when Gretel touched her Stone. "Can you feel my Stone when you touch it?" she asked.

"A little. My hand still goes through it, but there's a little pressure."

"Huh." Hazel considered that. "I didn't know that."

"Does it help?"

"Maybe." Hazel stepped over to Gretel. "I was thinking I could throw out a magic bag, but I'm worried the counter power from this many beetles might burst it. You, however, aren't affected by them."

Gretel turned over her hand as the beetle walked across it. "What do you need me to do?"

"I was thinking, if you touch my Stone while I'm working a banish spell, maybe it'll flow through you, and you could mist out over the whole section."

Gretel looked at the pinkish tinge that marked the section. "I think I could do that. It's not too much space." She shook her hand, and the beetle flew off. She turned to Hazel and lifted her hand to hover in front of her Stone. "Just say when."

For a moment, Hazel forgot to breathe. Gretel was right there, able to feel some tiny part of her, and she had to tighten the grip on her wand to center herself. "Okay," she said. "When."

Hazel worked the banish while Gretel touched her Stone. As Hazel finished the spell, Gretel glowed bright white, then shot upward, breaking into a cold mist above the shelves. Hazel held out her hand, letting the mist sprinkle into her palm. She'd only seen Gretel do this from a distance, when she was heading out on a messenger job or wanted some time to herself. Up close, the mist carried a slightly blue tinge. Hazel smiled at it as it dried on her palm. 

Gretel reformed to Hazel's right. "I always think that's going to feel like something," she said. "Like how I remember a really good stretch feeling."

"It's cold, if that helps," Hazel said. She looked around the section. The green lights were almost completely extinguished. A few lights were still scattered around, but they were weaker than they had been. "Wow, that worked." 

Gretel smiled. "Excellent! Do you think it'll work for the other sections?"

"I can't imagine why not." Hazel lifted her wand to drop the hiding spell, paused, and sighed hugely. "Shit. I'm going to have to write that down for the Aunties. They never taught us you as a magical conduit, or ghosts at all."

"I'll tell them," Gretel replied. "I'll be going back tonight anyway. If they have any questions after I report, they can call you."

"Oh, that would be awesome. I've still got to finish cramming for my Algebra final."

"And cleaning out the other pests."

"That, too."

Even with Gretel as a sort of magic bomb, it took another two hours to clear the rest of the anxiety beetles. By the time they finished, Hazel felt like she had bricks in her shoes, and Gretel was starting to fade in and out.

"Please note to the Aunties that no single Blue Stone or ghost should clear a whole space that size again," Hazel said as they stopped by the fountain, and she yawned hugely.

"I will," Gretel said. She was giving Hazel the same sweet smile from earlier. "You're worn out. No more studying tonight, okay? Get some sleep."

"I don't think I have a choice," Hazel said. She scrubbed her hands over her eyes and blinked a few times. "Thanks for the help."

"Of course." Gretel reached out, as she always did, her hand brushing through--

Hazel stared down at their hands. Their hands that were touching. Her hand, which Gretel was holding. She looked up and found Gretel was staring in shock as well. "How…"

"I don't know," Gretel said. She turned Hazel's hand over with her own. She met Hazel's gaze and reached out her other hand. Her fingers stroked Hazel's cheek.

"Gretel," Hazel got out. "What the fuck."

"I have no idea. I've never--there's never--" Gretel shook her head, then dropped her hand from Hazel's face. She tightened her grip on Hazel's hand. "I'll...I'll tell the Aunties. They'll want to know this, too. I don't think any of the ghosts have ever made contact."

"Yeah," Hazel replied, her brain clicking back on at the mention of reporting...this. "Okay. Um. Tell them I'll be free by Thursday afternoon. I'm going to Grandma's for the break, but I won't leave until Friday morning."

"Okay," Gretel agreed. She squeezed Hazel's hand once more, then slowly let go. "Get some sleep," she said.

"Yeah," Hazel agreed, though she felt like maybe she would never sleep again. "I'll see you soon."

Gretel smiled one last time and faded into the mist around the fountain.

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. Sue didn't find the beer because RAs (in the states) are not allowed to open stuff during room check. I assure you every other freshman in a dorm has beer in their fridge, and the RA totally knows.
> 
> 2\. So, clearly, anxiety beetles bust out when anxiety spikes. Dust moths can happen on their own, but they respond with a lot of magic around a lot of knowledge, so enough beetles can cause dust moths to pop up if the beetles are also around a lot of knowledge. 
> 
> 3\. Gretel can interact with magical creatures that spawn on their own. No one is quite sure why, but the fact that ghosts spawn of their own choice is the current theory.
> 
> 4\. Only Blue Stones can see messages that come out of their stones. There have been many, many prank messages over the centuries.


End file.
